In February 2021, over the course of several cold and dreary days, I gathered with SM and LM and their children at Ralph and Ella's home in Centerville, Utah. We were there to help in the continued effort to sort and find new homes for Ralph and Ella's belongings and mementos, as the family was preparing their home for sale.
I brought my scanner as a carryon, and set up shop in Ralph and Ella's office. We organized photos and documents, and I scanned and scanned and scanned for days (and twice all night), creating digital versions of these priceless treasures, to be able to document and share these files with the broader family.
The days I spent there were so sacred, to be granted a peak into what Ralph and Ella saved, what was most important to them, what they hung on to, and what they wanted to remember. Each item made a statement about what they valued.
But what touched my heart most was to find concrete evidence of the stories that Ralph and Ella told. The stories were already real, but these relics brought them to life.
Here are a few examples:
Ralph's folio of business cards from different jobs and positions - he worked so hard to provide for his family.
View of Mesa, AZ, from the air, of Rendezvous Park (coincidentally, where Ralph and Ella met)
This was labeled on the back, "My hobby."
The huge family tree that Kate Findlay (Ella's mother) had created. She was ahead of her time with her genealogical research! This chart starts with George and Kate Findlay (born in 1903 and 1904, respectively), going back I'm not sure how many generations, but the earliest date listed is 1080 AD. (See a video of it here.)
Kate Findlay's handwritten family tree. For context, this chart measures about 5-feet wide and dates back to 1080 AD.
Ella's school notebooks and study guides from Scotland, while a student at the Aberdeen Central S. S. School as an early teenager. Ella talked about how when she emigrated at age 15, she was ahead of the schooling standards for the same grade in America. But the Scots really set the bar high for their students!
Ella's notebook for English exercises, filled with essay she wrote on various prompts.
An essay Ella wrote about a week-long school camp to Kemnay, Scotland. (Other stories and photos of Ella's family in Kemnay, here.)
Note how spelling and grammar were corrected, and then Ella had to rewrite the corrected words at the end of her essay.
Ella's English and Arithmetic exam book
"Mental Arithmetic" - I wonder whether this was a focus in the US curriculum for this age in the late 1940s. Ella was really good at doing mathematic calculations in her head.
Files and files and files of family history work, for both Ella and Ralph's sides.
Just a sampling of the many files of family history work that Ralph and Ella saved.
Sweet correspondence with loved ones far away - grandparents, cousins, friends, and even Ma Pat, the sweet woman who lived upstairs from the Findlays on Prospect Terrace in Aberdeen, and who assisted in Ella's birth.
A letter from Ma Pat to Ella, 15 January 1952
Every card, note, photo - it seems like that they ever received - saved in shoeboxes and plastic bins. Including children's art projects, letters to Santa, notes from children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
A note to the Easter Bunny, from Ralph and Ella's daughter BR.
These, and many more artifacts, are physical testaments -- evidence of the stories they told and lives well lived. (May I live my life as well, and with the evidence to show for it.)
It’s so fun to hear Ralph talk about growing up on the farm in Mesa in the ‘30s and ‘40s, especially as his experiences were so different from kids today. For example, learning to drive prior to age 14. Love the following story he shared of a simple misunderstanding with his father about what speed to keep on the highway.
……….
On the farm in Arizona, I got to drive all around the farm doing stuff, loading hay and stuff like that. Tractors, cars, pick ups, whatever was there.
But my real driving experience - and I actually got a driver's license at age 12! My father, Virgil Mitchell, came out when I was, well let’s see, maybe I was a little older, ‘cause he came out and gave me that motor scooter when I graduated from [junior high], a Cushman, 3-wheel motor scooter. This was ‘48, so I guess I was 14. But I actually learned how to drive before that. But I actually had a driver's license.
A 1948 Cushman Model 52, Similar to Ralph's. Three-wheeled with a box on the front, though Ralph's was red and had an additional cushion in back too. Two friends would ride along to school! Image Source.
So my father came out, gave me the motor scooter, and my mother said it was OK to go back and visit with him. It was the first time I had really seen him for years. So we loaded the motor scooter back up on his pick up, because he had driven the pickup out, from New Mexico, (they were living in Albuquerque). …. We were driving back to Albuquerque, and he pulled over to the side and said, “Ok, let’s have you drive for a while.” And I said, “Really?” He said, “Yah! It’s a straight highway.” So I got in and drove for hours, driving back there.
What was interesting, the speedometer was a big round speedometer - 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and so forth. I think it stopped at 80 or 90. But anyway, I was driving along and he looked over and said, “Why don’t you keep it just a little above 80. Now, if you look at the speedometer, here’s the 80, and he thought that above it would be lower than 80, but when he said above 80, I thought he meant faster than 80!
"Keep It a Little Above 80."
So two or three times he leaned over and said, “I want you to keep it a little above 80.” And I said, “I am! I’m going about 82, 83.” And he said, “No, I want it on THAT side of 80.” A little misunderstanding as he was looking at the physical speedometer.
Over ice cream at the local Dairy Queen in Centerville, Utah, an August afternoon in 2019, Ralph shared a hilarious memory from his childhood growing up in Mesa, Arizona...the story of The Floating Hat.
It’s been so fun for me to learn more about Ralph’s maternal “granddaddy”, Earl Inglish (1873-1958) (and relatedly, his maternal grandmother, Bertha Clarice Copeland Inglish (1882-1977).) Although there’s some information that I’ve been able to learn about him through census records and other documents, the real treasures are the first-hand accounts from his son CI, Grandpa Ralph, and Ralph’s first cousins MJ and AP. Spoiler alert: Earl apparently had quite the sweet tooth; could fix just about anything, from the buckle on a sandal to a cotton gin; had an incredibly high pain tolerance, kept bees (with his son Garland), and had a way of making his grandkids feel so special. Please note: We can’t confirm the facts 100% on all these details, but these are the family members' remembrances. Have any stories or photographs to add? We'd love to hear it! If so, please reach out through the Contact Form at the bottom of this page. (And please forgive the formatting on this post! Blogger was giving me quite the battle, and it seems to have won.) See these related blog posts:
Earl was born on 27 February 1873, the 3rd of 13 children and the oldest son of Alexander Soloman Inglish (1838-1923) and Martha Ophelia Skipwith (1851-1934). (Fun fact: 9 of the 13 children of Alexander and Martha had names that started with “E”: Ethel, Earl, Edna, Elsie, Emmet, Eva, Ella, Emma, Ernest.)
He was born in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas, a small town (1) that his grandfather, Bailey Inglish (1793-1867) founded.
(I wonder: What was Earl’s father’s (Alexander) occupation? Did they have a farm? Daily life growing up in a household with 13 children?)
Religious Roots
Growing up, Earl’s family were members of the Methodist church, and his father (Alexander Soloman Inglish, 1838-1923) was a devout student of the Bible, even writing articles on various biblical subjects. Alexander taught Earl, his oldest son, that the church that Christ had established when he was on the earth needed to be restored, and that he should seek for that restored church.
In particular, what encouraged Earl to later be especially receptive to learning more about the doctrines of Mormonism was learning about the restoration of the Levitical Priesthood to the earth, as this was something in particular that he had studied in the scriptures and was seeking.
Here’s a brief retelling of their conversion, shared by Ralph and Cousin MJ. (Read a longer account of their conversion to Mormonism/The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here.)
Recorded 26 October 2018
3:40 min
Courtship and Marriage
Cousin AP recalls:
[They met] at some dance, and somebody wanted her to come over and meet this fellow. I think he introduced himself as Earl Inglish. I can’t remember what it was he said about why he was there, and she made some remark about he looked like one that the cat brought in or the dog brought in, something to that effect....but it didn’t seem to deter his longing to date her. [Chuckles] She talked like she was a little bit smart aleck about it.
When it was time to get married - she was 19, he was 28 - it was a very common practice in that era that “they got in the buggy and rode to the justice of the peace’s home, and just sat in the buggy, he came outside, and married them, and signed all the documents and so forth and gave them, and they went on their way.” As far as AP knows, their parents were not in attendance and there were no witnesses, but we don’t know for sure. They were married 15 December 1901 in Ivanhoe, Fannin County, Texas.
They had 7 children together (5 boys, 2 girls. The two girls are Ralph’s mother and cousins AP and MJ’s mother.)
(Read more about Bertha and their courtship here.)
Setting Up Home
Cousin AP once related how she had mapped out where Earl, Bertha, and their young family lived by looking at where each of their children were born. Genius idea! Here is a similar attempt, with data from census reports included as well. You'll see that they moved around quite a bit, until they settled in Mesa, Arizona.
1902 - Paul, born in Elwood, Fannin County, Texas
1904 - Garland, born in Ivanhoe, Fannin County, Texas
1906 - Juanita, born in Neanda, Jones County, Texas
1909 - Hugh Ophelia, born in Elida, Roosevelt County, New Mexico
1911 - Rayburn, born in Menard, Menard County, Texas
1914 - Alvin, born in Menard, Menard County, Texas
1922 - Carl, born in (city? county?), Arizona
The census records from 1930 and 1940 list Earl and Bertha as living in Mesa. We know that they lived there from that time until they passed.
323 S Lesueur Avenue, Mesa, Arizona
The first home that Earl and Bertha ever owned (having lived in rental properties previously) was one built for them in 1945 by their son Ray, at 323 S Lesueur Avenue, Mesa, Arizona. After he returned from World War II, he used his GI Bill to help finance the project.
(Any memories of the home? Number of bedrooms or bathrooms? Family gatherings here?)
Bertha, Earl, with son Ray
About 1940
Livelihood
Son CI describes him as having been mechanically inclined, working on and maintaining steam tractors and engines.
Granddaughter AP describes him as a machinist. While their family was young, they were moving west to follow better work opportunities. Earl worked primarily on cotton gins, moving to new locations with his family as employment was available. They would stay for a time (a year or so? we’re unsure) while Earl would fix the machinery and get it in good working order, then would move to another spot when the work was finished and his skills were needed elsewhere. (Read more about their journey west from Texas to Arizona here.)
According to census records, Earl listed the following as his occupations: (2)
1900 Census - age 25, day laborer, living in parents household, Justice Precinct 7, Fannin County, Texas
1920 Census - age 46, farmer (what kind? The census indicates, but the handwriting is hard to read), living in Cartwright, Maricopa County, Arizona
1930 Census - age 57, Retail sales, service station, (Bertha was listed as a “sales lady, service station”. Was this at the same station?), living in Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona
1940 Census - age 67, Gardener helper, temple grounds, living in Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona
From first-hand family accounts, we know that Earl also worked in the boiler room of the Mesa temple, maintaining the heating of the temple, retiring from that around 1950.
..........
Now, for more personal remembrances, the following are stories that Ralph and his cousins AP and MJ shared about Granddaddy Earl and Grandmother Bertha.
Double Motion, and Sweet Rewards
Cousin AP remembers:
He loved lemon drops. And my kids cherish the memories of, my oldest daughter would, he was a machinist and would work with metal and filing metal and things like that and he would get metal splinters in his hands. And he would give the kids a lemon drop if they would pick the splinters out of his hands. And so my daughter talks about how she would always go and pick the splinters out.
And he would also do double motion. Double motion means that when one hand is doing something the other hand is moving the same. Aunt Wee (Juanita) was that way and my brother Hugh was that way, and I think Mauna a little bit. It seemed to get weaker down the generations. I haven’t heard about it in years. He was quite double motion, so he would reach in his pocket and he’d be feeling around to get the lemon drop out but his other hand was moving and the kids would watch it and when those fingers came together they knew he had gotten a hold of it and would be pulling it out. [chuckles.] My kids talk about that all the time, watching Granddad get the lemon drops out of his pocket and taking the splinters out of his hands.
A High Pain Tolerance
AP: I know that whenever he would get a rotten tooth and it would ache, he would take a pair of pliers and go down to Ralph’s mother, Aunt Wee (Juanita)... to have her pull that tooth with a pair of pliers. And no anesthetic, no shots, no nothing, just a pair of pliers. And she finally pulled just about all of his teeth. They wouldn’t use anything to deaden the pain or anything. He would just stand there and take it and she would pull it out.
Secret Passage Into the Mesa Temple
Another memory from AP:
Granddaddy, when they lived in the little house, this was after they moved out of the Little Jerusalem and they got a house right directly across the street from the temple, from the boiler house. The boiler house…[was] a small building just south of the temple in the parking lot that they called “the boiler house” and it had big tall chimney. That was the way the heated the temple in those days. And he was in charge of the boiler house, to keep the boilers fired up and keep the temple warm in the winter. And there was a tunnel that went from the boiler house into the basement of the temple, right into the baptismal font, underneath where the oxen were.
Halfway between the boiler house and the temple was a little small building; it looked like a playhouse to me. I thought it was a playhouse when I was a kid. It was actually the ventilation to the temple. It was a square building with a screen around the top and a roof on it. It was after I was baptized -- I was baptized in the Mesa Temple. At that time, we were all baptized there because there were no fonts in any chapels, so many of us our age were baptized in the font at the Mesa Temple.
And it was after I was baptized, Granddaddy took me through this tunnel—that was the way he got into the temple to check the temperature and make sure everything was correct there—and he took me through that tunnel and let me go up and touch the oxen that were holding the baptismal font. It was just a really neat experience! I do not remember him telling me not to tell anybody, but I never did! Years later, after I was married and I was here visiting with my sister Mauna...we were reminiscing about our childhoods, MJ told this story about Granddaddy taking her through this tunnel into the baptismal font. And I said, “Oh, he took me too!” And [another family member] said “Oh, he took me too!” None of us had told anyone else until then, so we decided that as the children were baptized, that was what he did: he took them in to touch that oxen that were holding the baptismal font. It was kind of a neat experience for an eight-year-old child!
Personality
From AP:
AP: I never heard her [Grandmother Bertha] raise her voice or get upset or mad at anybody or anything. She did get a little out of sorts with Granddaddy every once in awhile. [Chuckles]RM: Earl! [Chuckles]AP: He was quite overweight and he loved to eat candy bars. And sometimes I think he did it just to get at her. So he would sit and eat candy bars and he was real quite overweight, and she’d ask him how it felt to pregnant all of the time. [Chuckles] The more she fussed at him about those kinds of things, the more he did it. [Chuckles]
Here, Ralph and MJ share memories of Granddaddy Earl and Grandmother Bertha: Walking home from school and visiting with Granddaddy who was working at the Mesa Temple; Granddaddy pulling his friend's tooth; sugary indulgences; napping on the porch; fixing shoes.
Recorded 26 October 2018
7:34 min
And here, Ralph and MJ share memories of Grandmother's homemade pancakes and biscuits; Granddaddy with his hot drink and bowl of sugar; snuggling Granddaddy in his chair; and hearing aids
Recorded 26 October 2018
3:20 min
Death
Earl passed away on 13 February 1958 in El Paso, Texas, while visiting his son CI who was living there. He was two weeks shy of turning 85. He is buried in the City of Mesa Cemetery next to his wife Bertha. (3)
Sources:
From conversation with CI and JI on 9 August 2015
Phone call with AP and RM, grandchildren, on 11 October 2015
Video of Ralph and MJ filmed 26 October 2018
Notes:
1. Population of Bonham in 1870: 928. In 1880: 1889 - Quite the population boom! Source: http://population.us/tx/bonham/ 2. Earl's occupations through the years, according to census records:
1900 Census - age 25, day laborer: "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M3G3-661 : accessed 5 May 2016), Earl English in household of Alex English, Justice Precinct 7, Fannin, Texas, United States; citing sheet 12B, family 225, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,241,634.
1920 Census - age 46, farmer (what kind? The census indicates, but the handwriting is hard to read. Include a screenshot) - "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCR2-VFF : accessed 5 May 2016), Earl Inglish, Cartwright, Maricopa, Arizona, United States; citing sheet 5B, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,820,049.
1930 Census - age 57, Retail sales, service station. (Bertha was listed as a “sales lady, service station”. Was this at the same station? "United States Census, 1930", database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH1S-CVT : accessed 5 May 2016), Earl Inglish, 1930.
1940 Census - age 67, Gardener helper, temple grounds. "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYWT-M88 : accessed 5 May 2016), Earl Inglish, Mesa, Supervisorial District 1, Maricopa, Arizona, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 7-68B, sheet 11A, family 253, NARA digital publication T627 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), roll 106.
3. The location of Earl and Bertha's graves in the City of Mesa Cemetery: Block 531, Lot 1, Graves 1 and 2.
Vintage Postcard of the Mesa Arizona Temple
Source: Postcard Bought on eBay
After converting to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in June 1932, Ella’s parents, George and Kate Findlay, started making plans to emigrate to America. They would leave their homeland, their family, friends, occupations, and the comfort of a communal culture...to buy one-way tickets on an ocean liner.
It wasn’t fame or fortune that called to them, but the desire to gather together “in Zion” with other members of the Church and to receive the blessings of the temple. At that time, the only operating temples of the Church were in the United States and Canada, and there weren’t any announced plans to build any others in Europe anytime soon.(1) If families wanted to receive these saving ordinances and be sealed together, they made the sacrifice to emigrate.
Mesa, Arizona, would be their final destination, with the family coming in waves: First George in December 1948, then Kate and Ella in May 1949, and Ina following a few months later in October 1949. (Read more about their emigration story here and here.)
The Mesa temple was just a few blocks from their home. And the day for them to be sealed together as a family had finally arrived, in spring 1950.(2)
Ella was 16 at the time. And unfortunately, when I finally thought to ask Ella about details of the day, she couldn't remember much. However, when we visited Ralph's first cousin MJ in October 2018, MJ shared what she happened to remember about that day - it made such an impression, recalling it almost 70 year later. How is this relevant? MJ, although a cousin of Ralph's, she was also a classmate and friend of Ella's.
MJ recalled (3):
We were friends in high school, and I remember the day they were all going to be sealed. And they were looking forward to that day....And then they had a dance that night; it was a big party. It was like the Gold and Green Ball. And I remember you [Ella] said to me, "But isn't being sealed together such a sacred thing that would we want to end the day joyfully and jolly, you know, going to a dance?" And I thought, Wow! This girl is just golden! I mean, I was so impressed with that because the sacredness of finally having your family sealed together and you didn't want the day to end partying, you know, or taking away from that sacred [experience].
This girl certainly is "just golden"!
Ralph's cousin MJ, who was also a classmate of Ella's, recalls when Ella's family
was sealed in the temple. Filmed 26 October 2018.
1:03 min
Notes:
The first LDS temple in Europe (and 9th operating LDS temple) was built in 1955, in Bern Switzerland. Source: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/chronological/
I'm still trying to track down the exact details, but it looks like George and Kate were sealed together on 7 February 1950, while Ina was sealed to them on 31 March 1950. If Ella was sealed to them on either of these, or another day close to this time, she would have been 16 at the time.
